“We strongly condemn this inhuman and barbaric act against an innocent person,” said Navtej Sarna, India’s external affairs ministry spokesman. “The Taliban and its backers bear the responsibility for the consequences of this outrageous act.”

Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammed Yousaf said the rebels shot Kutty because the Indian state-owned construction company he worked for had not agreed to the kidnappers’ demands to pull out of Afghanistan.

Kutty was kidnapped along with three Afghans in Nimroz province on Saturday. One of the Afghans has since been released, while the fate of the two other Afghans was unknown.

The abduction was the latest kidnapping in southern Afghanistan. A British engineer working on a road project and two Japanese tourists were kidnapped in August and killed.

In other violence, militants near the capital, Kabul, shot and killed an Afghan working as the head of security for a Turkish construction company, said Abdul Rasool, a police commander in Logar province. Two other guards were wounded in the attack late Tuesday.